An open letter to the Premier, signed by 64 residents around Mark Radium Park, Windsor Drive, North Street and parts of The Arbour and Huntingdale Park, say they are suffering relentless traffic noise 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The bypass officially opened to traffic, 12 months ahead of schedule, at 8.30pm on Thursday, July 13, 2017 but residents on the south western side of the township say the bypass has turned their lives into a “living hell”.

Spokespeople Nic Delfos and Tina Ballard say residents have been campaigning for something to be done since October 2017 but have achieved minimal attention or response to requests for assistance from either local MP Gareth Ward or Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight Melinda Pavey regarding the impact of extreme traffic noise in their lives.

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In the letter the residents call on the Premier to take urgent intervention in resolving the problem.

The letter says residents had made numerous representations, receiving no evidence elected representatives were concerned about the well-being of a minority of constituents or committed to addressing their situation.

“We are forced to live with our windows and doors closed. We suffer sleep interruption and sleep deprivation and we are unable to engage in normal activities on verandas and in gardens,” the letter says.

Residents believe in the absence of any noise mitigation, their homes have become the “noise barriers” for the rest of the Berry community, which is “blissfully unaware of the inescapable, relentless traffic noise eroding our home environment”.

“We have displayed an extremely high degree of restraint, tolerance and trust in our elected representatives but in hindsight, our trust has been naive and therefore misplaced,” Ms Ballard said.

“This is not a case of people choosing to relocate and complaining about the conditions there (eg) Moving to a house on Parramatta Road and complaining about traffic noise. It is a case of a living [for decades or more] in a peaceful, rural environment and having Parramatta Road, with accompanying traffic noise, brought to the front doorstep,” Mr Delfos said.

The group says it has had non-substantive verbal assurances by Mr Ward; little response to emails; no response to a letter (jointly signed by residents, registered and posted in July 2018) to the Minister; response received following the newspaper headline/editorial September 14  - not from the Minister but relegated to an RMS official).

They also questioned why noise monitoring results (completed March 2018) by RMS hadn’t been released, and why results of the independently conducted noise-monitoring survey by an acoustics firm (verifying unacceptable noise levels and recommending amelioration works) and a report (dated October 2018) analysing the original scope of work and highlighting discrepancies in the completed roadworks had been ignored.

They have also questioned why other areas along the Berry Bypass have received noise mitigating works, yet this area has been left untreated.

November 2018

Hon. Gladys Berejiklian MP

Premier of NSW

OPEN LETTER TO THE PREMIER OF NSW

URGENT NEED FOR TRAFFIC NOISE MITIGATION IN BERRY

Dear Premier,

Since October 2017, we the undersigned, have achieved minimal attention or response to our request for assistance from either our local Member of Parliament or the Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight regarding the detrimental impact of extreme traffic noise in our lives.

Since Berry By-Pass opened to traffic, we are forced to live with our windows and doors closed. We suffer sleep interruption and sleep deprivation and we are unable to engage in normal activities on verandas and in gardens. In the absence of any noise mitigation, our homes have become the “noise barriers” for the rest of the Berry community, which is blissfully unaware of the inescapable, relentless traffic noise eroding our home environment.

The construction of the Berry By-Pass, locally signposted Highway Re-alignment was, and remains, the responsibility of our NSW Government. The safety, health and well-being of constituents is a government responsibility. Therefore, it is not unreasonable that the NSW Government, which constructed a harmful environment, which discriminates against a minority of constituents in Berry, be responsible for the reparation and restoration of acceptable living conditions.

The front-page news story (“South Coast Register” 12/09/2018) headlined “Living Hell”, highlighted our predicament. The Editorial provided evidence of research that, “prolonged or excessive noise has been shown to cause a range of health problems ranging from stress, poor concentration, productivity losses in the workplace, communication difficulties and fatigue from lack of sleep to more serious issues such as cardiovascular disease, cognitive impairment, tinnitus and hearing loss” and strongly urged the NSW Government and the RMS to treat all constituents fairly and equitably. (Recently several residents have reported health issues, partly attributed to traffic noise stress.)

Despite bringing our problem to the attention of both our local MP and The Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight in October 2017, there is no evidence that our elected representatives are concerned about the well-being of a minority of constituents or committed to addressing our situation. This is demonstrated in non-substantive verbal assurances by our local MP; little response to emails; no response to a letter (jointly signed by residents, registered and posted in July 2018) to the Minister; response received following the newspaper headline/editorial 14 September - not from the Minister but relegated to an RMS official) ;no release of noise monitoring results (completed March 2018) by RMS, results of the independently conducted noise-monitoring survey by an acoustics firm (verifying unacceptable noise levels and recommending amelioration works) ignored; a report (dated October 2018) analysing the original scope of work and highlighting discrepancies in the completed roadworks ignored.

In addition, it is disappointing that the Minister, while on an inspection tour of the completed roadworks earlier this year and aware of our problem, invited several prominent members of the Berry Chamber of Commerce to a meeting in a Berry coffee shop. The meeting, subsequently reported in the newspaper with accompanying photograph, publicised the benefits that the successful road realignment had brought to the community.

We, the undersigned, do not dispute the improvements as a result of redirecting highway traffic to by-pass Queen Street, Berry. However, we note the noise-mitigation works (some above- required- height), in other parts of Berry and now the preparatory noise barriers under construction south of Berry. We question the reasoning behind the decision to omit noise mitigation measures around Mark Radium Park, Windsor Drive, North Street, parts of “The Arbour” and Huntingdale Park.

One does not require engineering qualifications to predict that noise from a single-lane highway controlled by a speed camera (50 km/hour speed) will not equate to four lanes of traffic (100 km/hour), an off-ramp (80 km/hour) all elevated above the original roadway. The assumption would be that residents obviously require protection from noise. On this western side of the village there is certainly no By-Pass. Instead there are more-than double the number of lanes and extreme amplification in traffic noise, which continues to damage our environment and well-being.

It is indisputable that, to date, despite the distress caused by the degradation of living conditions and environment, we have displayed an extremely high degree of restraint, tolerance and trust in our elected representatives. In hindsight, our trust has been naive and therefore misplaced. This is not a case of people choosing to relocate and complaining about the conditions there. e.g. Moving to a house on Parramatta Road and complaining about traffic noise. It is a case of a living (for decades or more) in a peaceful, rural environment and having Parramatta Road, with accompanying traffic noise, brought to the front doorstep.

Despite being a constituent minority in Berry, we are entitled to be taken seriously and treated equitably, not forced to go “cap in hand” to our representatives, begging for repair of the very environment that those in power have damaged.

This is not the Australia of a fair go for all.

We, the undersigned, seek your urgent intervention in resolving this protracted delay and in expediting the reparation of our environment.

Yours faithfully,

Signed

Frank Hopkins 7 Pepper Farm Drive, Berry

Maree Hopkins 7 Pepper Farm Drive, Berry

Anne Webb 6 Windsor Drive, Berry

Tina Ballard 12 Windsor Drive, Berry

Marjorie Kelly 14 Huntingdale Pk Road, Berry

David 7 Bluestone Lane, Berry

Jan Mackenzie 5 Little Corella Circuit, Berry

John Mackenzie 5 Little Corella Circuit, Berry

Ruth Goodsir 42 Little Corella Circuit, Berry

Nina Poulos 42 Little Corella Circuit, Berry

Tina Dodd 14 Windsor Drive, Berry

Barbara Smith 55/22 Victoria Street, Berry

Vicki Hatter 6 Lincoln Close, Berry

Nic Delfos 10 Windsor Drive, Berry

R. Luxton 1 Host Place, Berry

N. Luxton 1 Host Place, Berry

A. Briggs 30 Huntingdale Park Road, Berry

R. Briggs 30 Huntingdale Park Road, Berry

J. Dwyer 3 Ford Street, Berry

T. Billington 56 Little Corella Circuit, Berry

A. Howard 56 Little Corella Circuit, Berry

Rosemary Courtney 3 Host Place, Berry

Paula Badman 13 Host Place, Berry

Peter Badman 13 Host Place, Berry

Margaret Walsh 21 Windsor Drive, Berry

Elizabeth Johnson 23 Windsor Drive, Berry

John Johnson 23 Windsor Drive, Berry

Sandra Escott 5 Windsor Drive, Berry

Heather Macdonald 10 Bluestone Lane, Berry (The Arbour)

Libby Longley 9 Windsor Drive, Berry

Elizabeth Lambert 62 Little Corella Crescent, Berry

Susan Skeil 52 Little Corella Cct, Berry (The Arbour)

Jan Smart 5 Pepper Farm Drive, Berry The (Arbour)

Marie Russell 4 Little Corella, Berry (The Arbour)

Joanna Thomas 8 Huntingdale Park Road, Berry

Patricia Howell 2 Little Corella Cres., Berry

Pat Weybury 1 Pepper Farm Drive, Berry

Ian Weybury 1 Pepper Farm Drive, Berry

Hilary McKirdy 3/9 Host Place, Berry

Marilyn Martin 33 Little Corella Cct., Berry

Christine Young 7 Dianella Lane, Berry (The Arbour)

Annette Hansby 1 Bluestone Lane, Berry (The Arbour)

Graham Hansby 1 Bluestone Lane, Berry (The Arbour)

Charles Young 7 Dianella Lane, Berry

Heather Isemonger 13 Pepper Farm Drive, Berry (The Arbour)

Colleen Fry 64 Little Corella Circuit, Berry

May Haken 1 Jubata Lane, Berry

Tom Darby 4 Pepper Farm Drive, Berry (The Arbour)

Jacqui Lyne 2 Jubata Lane, Berry (The Arbour)

Ingrid Delfos 10 Windsor Drive, Berry

Ken Lyne 2 Jubata Lane, Berry (The Arbour)

Belinda Rath 11 Windsor Drive, Berry

David Lambert 62 Little Corella Circuit, Berry

Irene Birks 44 Clarence Street, Berry

Jan Lutz 5 Lincoln Close, Berry

Sharni Mattick 17 Windsor Drive, Berry

Jennifer Warden 13 Windsor Drive, Berry

Janette Hepper 4 Lincoln Close, Berry

John McEwan 68 Little Corella Cct., Berry

Tony Jackson 8 Kangaroo Valley Road, Berry

David Rawson 8 Windsor Drive, Berry

Malcolm Sealy 120 North Street, Berry